Tag Archives: steve jobs

Today, a decision in court on the Apple vs. Samsung case was made. If you have not been following the news at all within the past few weeks, Apple was suing Samsung for $2.5 billion. Apple implied that Samsung was infringing on Apple’s copyrights and Samsung countersued saying that Apple was stealing their property.

Today, it was decided that most of the patents that Apple says were violated, were violated, and they were awarded $1 billion. Samsung may also be hit with bans on infringing products. That information or anything related to it remains to be seen. It is clear that Apple has won and it has always been clear that Apple would win. However, is that necessarily a good thing?

There are some positives to this situation, Apple gets paid even more to it’s arsenal, it doesn’t have to worry about other companies that are infringing on their rights since the companies that are, won’t anymore because they don’t want to sued. However, because these companies can’t infringe anymore, they will have to stop and think outside the box more than they do now. As a result they might even make a product, dare I say it, better than Apple and beat Apple. This of course is a little far fetched since I think Samsung hasn’t given any thought besides ripping off others ideas and making a profit out of it, but if they think of something better before Apple does, Apple is in trouble and Apple forced them into that spot. Again, it isn’t likely, but it absolutely could happen and even if Samsung doesn’t, another company could because Apple didn’t just put Samsung in that position, they put every other smart phone company in that position. Samsung is not an entirely non-innovative company. They have done very well with TVs and they are an industry leader there. Of course, once Apple enters that field, they will not be the leader for much longer. But for now, they are a TV industry leader. They have innovated in the field extensively. The Samsung Smart TV is not a shabby product. I am worried that the innovation that they have brought to their TVs, they also will bring to their phones because they can’t copy the leader any longer. Could this make then the new leader? Only time will tell.

Of course, one must remain optimistic. Samsung did copy Apple. They violated laws they should not have. Samsung has not been innovative, just copycats that couldn’t get it quite right and they are $1 billion less and might have a ban on many of their infringing products, which they should. We must remain optimistic that Samsung will not innovate and I personally don’t think it will.

Of course, Wall Street is reacting positively to this news and Apple stock is $663.22 right now and is only expected to rise. Samsung stock declined today due to the news. I hope Samsung doesn’t innovate and Apple continues to and that this battle has forced them out of the market. Steve Jobs said before he died last year that “[he would] spend [his] last dying breath if [he needed] to, and [he would] spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong.” Apple has made a major victory against Android and its associated companies. Steve Jobs must be cheering in heaven right now, and it is with caution that I say, that I’m cheering too.

Today, Apple has become the most profitable company in history. This is something that while inevitable now, is something that may never have happened at all considering that Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy just a mere 15-16 years ago. It was only the grace and vision of Steve Jobs that saved the company.

The company took the realms from Microsoft of the title of most valuable company in history. Microsoft made that record in 1999 at $620.58 billion. Apple now holds the record at $624 billion and is only expected to climb further. Microsoft is now worth $257 billion. It has fallen $363.58 billion in worth. That is more than its value now. Gee, that’s some great growth there Microsoft! Their actions show for it to. For instance, they have failed in the top 3 biggest markets right now, media players, tablets and phones. They have no music player, a terrible excuse of a phone and a terrible excuse of a mobile operating system that will replace the successful desktop OS.

Apple on the other hand entered the three markets, actually they essentially created the markets. I know they didn’t invent these things but they made them intuitive so people would buy them. They made it so people wanted to buy them, because all three markets, mp3 player, smart phone and tablet, were very unpopular before Apple came in and changed the industries. You can argue that Apple wasn’t first and I wouldn’t argue with you, because you would be right, however you can not argue that they were the first successful ones at it, and everyone else just copied them.

Apple has a right to the title of the most valuable company in the world and now in history. Many analysts believe that Apple has room to grow-all the way up to the first trillion dollar company! I believe that it could go that high should Apple continue to innovate and re-innovate products. Right now and for years to come, there is no stopping Apple. It will continue to increase its sales, the facts don’t lie and the numbers don’t lie. Apple is VERY successful and unlike Microsoft, won’t turn back and crash like Microsoft the company and Microsoft computers tend to do.

There once was a farmer in 1796 named Farmer John. He had apple seedlings in that farm in Ontario, Canada. He noticed that those seedlings were not ones he had noticed before. There were 20 of those seedlings. He noticed them while clearing out the farm, which he had just bought. He transplanted the seedlings, cultivated them, and one survived. From that tree came a new breed of apples. Now, Farmer Johns last name was McIntosh. So what do you think whoever named this apple (presumably Farmer John himself) named this new breed? The McIntosh of course!

Zoom up many years later to 1976. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak (Woz), and Ronald Wayne had just created Apple Computer. The apple, at that time, was Steve Jobs’ favorite fruit. He liked the name more than other considered choices and it also put them ahead of Atari (and IBM for that matter) in the phonebook.

Zoom up 8 years and Apple is a very profitable company. The very exciting computer was about to be released. The Macintosh, or Mac, was Apple’s newest, biggest thing. Trying to continue the success of the Apple II, the Macintosh was Apple’s dream. Judging from the name of the company, why do you think they chose that name? Thats right, from Farmer John’s McIntosh apple. The Mac(intosh) comes from the name of the apple which is named after Farmer John McIntosh. (By the way, the reason they didn’t use any other type of apple (gala, fuji etc.) is because the McIntosh was Steve Jobs’ favorite apple.)

Unfortunately, the Macintosh didn’t work to Apple’s expectations and to make matters worse, Steve Jobs got thrown out of the company. After that it was a continuous stream of computers that hardly nobody bought. Microsoft and IBM were about as close to taking over the world as anyone had ever been without actually being a politician, and at Apple, everyone was exhausted, tired and broken down. Apple was at one point 90 days from bankruptcy (imagine if Steve Jobs didn’t return?!). But we know what happened. Steve Jobs came back and saved it from the rubble. He (actually Sir Jony Ive) came up with the iMac, the reintroduction to the Mac(intosh) and profitability.

So you see now the kind of impact that Farmer John has had on Apple? In a series of coincidences, he gave his name to both kinds of apples, the fruit and to a computer. Thank you Farmer John for your unbeknownst contribution to Apple. Now, next time when you see a Mac, you might think a bit more about all the little bits of history that makes Apple, Apple.

Apple has reminded customers to collect their information off of MobileMe and iWork,com since it has canceled it’s services in favor of the more widely accepted (and in my opinion, better) iCloud service. However, we must acknowledge the fact that we might not have iCloud without MobileMe, or at least it might have come later. MobileMe was the “preshow” so to speak of iCloud. We must “tip our hats off” to MobileMe and iWork.com since they together worked to make the people who bought it lives easier.

I never was a fan of MobileMe, limited functionality with too much of a cost. And it didn’t have the iOS support it should of had. If Apple wanted it to succeed, they would have intregated it into iOS. But they didn’t. Perhaps it’s because they already had the better iCloud service up their sleeve and didn’t want to continue MobileMe once iCloud took off. iCloud did take off and Apple did cancel MobileMe, so perhaps this was the case. MobileMe had a poor debut, it, again, had limited functionality, its performance was questionable, the name never stuck with customers, and customers just didn’t want to pay $99 a year. I may, however, shed a tear to the departure of iWork.com, it’s functionality worked with my all my Macs to make sure that my documents are on them, but again it didn’t have that crucial iOS support and with iCloud here and iCloud is here for good, there is no reason for it anymore. We no longer need neither service. And while some may grieve at one or both departures, I won’t be one of those people, because I have the worlds most advanced cloud to back me up, giving me more than a million MobileMes and iWork.coms could ever do. Intregated iOS support, a better name, better support and functionality, better reliability just makes it a better service.

So we wave goodbye to MobileMe and iWork.com just like we did with iTools and .mac. It’s time to say goodbye. Happy retirement iCloud and iWork.com, you will be missed (at least by some people).

Happy Birthday iPhone. While you were announced in January of 2007, you were not released until June 29th. With just 5 versions of the iPhone since its release, it has created one of the biggest world-wide phenomenons. Nothing from Apple matched iPods success until the iPhone. As a matter of fact, Steve Jobs created the iPhone to protect his music investment. It worked. The iPhone is one of the most successful media players on the planet. The iPhone has been severely cutting into the iPods success. Apple may be the ultimate leader in the music player market but the market is shrinking. The iPod, while it is a success, is no longer as important as it used to be for Apple’s success. They still need to keep the iPod line around for a while, but there might be a day where iPhone outshines it completely.

Apple has sold an estimate of 250 million iPhones. That is 1/28th of the population of the world. The iPhone has provided an astonishing $150 billion worth of revenue for Apple, an incredible amount. The amount of iPhones sold and the amount of revenue will only continue to rise in the coming years. The iPhone is a huge part of Apple’s business and would not be as successful today if it wasn’t for it. I bet you all of the Flashaholics and naysayers are wishing they thought about what they were saying before they said it when they called out the iPhone.

Of course, the iPhone would not be as successful today if Apple didn’t create the biggest App Store in the world. There are currently over 650,000 apps on the App Store, a very incredible feat for only being around for a little over 4 years (the App Store was released along side iPhone 3G, Apples 2nd Gen iPhone). There have been over 30,000,000,000 (30 billion) downloads on the App Store alone. Since its release, Apple has made billions off of the Apps on the store. Apps on the iPhone make the iPhone, the iPhone.

Due to all of these apps being sold, the iPhone has assisted people in everything from internet browsing, finding new places, taking excellent photos and editing them like a professional, keeping occupied with games in the office (just don’t tell the boss:), keeping in touch with people, helping kids learn, helping autistic people (children and adults), helping people see their sick grandma or aunt or whoever, while still being thousands of miles away, assisting blind people, assisting deaf people and just making the lives of millions easier. The iPhone has truly changed the world. Apple didn’t just reinvent the phone, they reinvented the world.

Steve Jobs was a quirky character, one of the smartest who ever lived. However, he was a child at heart and this story proves it. Steve reportedly wanted to put a golden ticket into the millionth iMac purchase which gave the recipient a fly in from where ever they were to cupertino and an opportunity to meet Jobs at the Cupertino campus. They also got the iMac purchase price refunded. Steve wanted to meet a real fanboy… Or at least someone who bought Apple products. Does this sound familiar? To me, it does. Ever see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Steve had a sense of humor in him underneath his almost narcissistic and serious personality. It shows that he was a child at heart. That is something that I loved so much about Steve. He could be serious and he could be funny and light-hearted. He was a well-rounded person.

So what happened to the idea? California law states that actual handover of money or a representation of money (hint the golden ticket) is not allowed. Once again, Californian politicians ruin the fun, but we are not into politics here at CoA so I won’t go into detail:) If you want to read more of these types of these stories about the late co-founder, read Ken Segall’s “Insanely Simple: The Obsession that drove Apple’s success”. It’s a great read!

The new Apple campus is expected to be completed around 2015. Already people are coming up with ideas on what Apple should have at this greatly improved campus. The main thing I am discussing in this article is an Apple museum. Just think about the current campus for a moment, you have the Apple campus sign. You have a Apple store at the campus that not only sells Apple devices but it also sells Apple gear such as t-shirts (my favorite one being the “I visited the mother ship” t-shirt) That’s about it. If you want to see more on Apple history, you’ll have to drive to Steve Jobs old house in Cupertino, to see the place where it all began.

Of course, if there were to be a museum, it would have to be a separate building from the main corporate one since Apple needs its secrecy, putting one in the corporate building would be a security nightmare. I think they can keep the store idea (with the mother ship shirt). But again, I think an Apple museum would add to Apple’s customer fondness level, gives them good PR and not to mention another stream of profit.

So what would they put in this museum?

First, they would either put a replica or the real van that Steve Jobs sold for seed capital. They would need to put wax sculptures of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developing the Apple 1 and 2, they could also put one of Steve introducing the Macintosh, Steve giving one of his later keynotes, such as the iPhone keynote and perhaps even Cook giving the iPad keynote.

They would also need a separate statue to Steve Jobs. It could include segments on the famous Stanford commencment speech he made in 2005. It could also include the Think Different speech. I think that on top of all this, they should make a working model for display and use of all of the Apple products ever made so people can get a hands on feel of new and old Apple products. I think it would a positive experience for customers, and since many people have old Apple devices, I’m sure Apple could scrape together all the products they would need for this interactive part of the museum. People, I’m sure, would happily donate old Apple merchandise to the museum if Apple would mention their name as a donor.

Apple could go all different directions on how to make the Apple campus different than that of most business campuses. What do you think are good ideas to put in such museum, or what do you think Apple could put in or around their campus to make it appealing for people to want to look at it. I, for one, would like just to see the Apple Campus now as it has a lot of appeal to me (I, as you know, am a huge Apple fan!). It’ll be interesting to see what Apple does with this enormous campus!

If Steve Jobs were to ask you if you wanted 10% of Apple in 1976 what would you do? If I knew what Apple became, I certainly would. In fact, I would have $55 billion! And who’s to say I wouldn’t have more stock?! Well, this has happened. His name is Ronald Wayne. He was the little known Apple founder that would break a tie between Jobs and Woz should one occur. However, he dropped out in 10 days. Why? Steve Jobs was too much to handle for him. Ronald Wayne stated that he was too old to handle Steve Jobs and said that it was like being in a whirlwind. So since Ronald Wayne made the worst decision of his life (although he was content with it stating he felt he made the best decision at the time with the knowledge he had), what has he done? Where is Wayne now? Ronald Wayne, after leaving Apple, went to Atari. Later on in 1978, when Wayne was at Atari, Steve gave him chance after chance to come back, Wayne refused. Even though Apple was becoming very popular by 1978 due to the Apple 2, Wayne still refused. If he came back with his original 10% he would’ve had three quarters of a million dollars and in 1980 he would’ve had 11.7 million dollars. Ronald Wayne currently lives in Nevada now and sells stamps, rare coins and gold. He did not own a single Apple product until 2011 when a friend in London have him an iPad 2. He currently has a book out about his experience with the Apple co-founders titled “Adventures of an Apple Founder” which currently brings him the money he needs to make it by. Had he not given up his 10% equity he wouldn’t need to do this.

What could $50 billion bring him today? Well, why don’t you decide that one. Comment how you would feel if you were Wayne and what you think $50 billion+ could buy you.

Yesterday was Steve Jobs Birthday. He would have been 57 years old. Happy birthday dear guy, hope to see you soon in iHeaven. You must be a popular guy up there:) Rest In Peace. I’m going to repost this because I feel it it to be appropriate… Today will be a day that I will never forget, on October 5, 2011 we lost a great mind, a brave solider, & a one of a mind man.

I lost a friend, he was a person who I looked up to each and everyday. My top dream was to meet him, and to just shake hands with him, it’s been a dream of mine since I was 10, now it will only be a dream never a reality. He the person who has created some of my best friends, and I’m a proud geek to say that.

Their was no other person like him in this world and there never will be again. Although he is gone, he will always be with each and everyone of us in spirit, every iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, & Mac is a symbol of all the hard work and dreams that this man has done for us. He was a person who wanted the best for us even is his worst times, and was the person who always wanted us to “Think Different”. There wasn’t ever an Apple keynote that I wasn’t at my Macbook watching all the exciting stuff was being announced. He has really made people feel like they belonged is this world and it was okay to be a geek, an Apple geek. I told my self that I will work for Apple Inc. and make him proud. Thank you to a man who touched so many life’s in one way or another, I will never forget all that you have done, Thanks for being my Inspiration, and never giving up on your dreams.

Rest In Peace Steven Paul Jobs”

And one more thing…

As all of you know, Steve Jobs died earlier this year and Apple is about to start a whole new year without him. What Apple needs to do to ensure it remains a global leader in technology is to follow the triumph, legacy and beliefs that this man left for us. They need to follow in the legacy of Steve Jobs.

What exactly is his legacy? Everything that Apple and Pixar have done to this point is what he dedicated his life for. All of his products from the Apple II all the way up the iPad 2 he created for us to use in our daily lives and to improve it. Let’s face it, we live in Steve’s World. We watch his movies everyday made from an amazing studio called Pixar. We listen to our music libraries everyday through his wonderful iPods, we search the web with his amazing computers, we talk to our friends using his revolutionary phone and we have the whole world in our hands with his magical iPad. And we have learned how to live our lives through his amazing speech at Stanford. I have heard countless numbers of stories on the web and just talking to people of how these products helped them do what they thought was impossible like parents in Los Angeles allowing their children to see their sick grandmother in the hospital in New York City or connecting cousins in different countries, for free. Steve Jobs, through his word, is leading a new type of generation. He is leading, through his word, a type of generation that uses technology to connect with one another without being in the same room. He is leading a generation of people that will ask themselves when they wake up in the morning if that day were their last would they do what they were about to do that day. His wisdom will lead a generation that will take initiative to do what they want to do instead of what living another’s life. You see, his legacy isn’t just his products but what he believed in. Doing what you love everyday, to never give up even when the worst happens and to live your own life. This is the generation of people Apple needs to focus on. This is the group of leaders that Apple should target. I know that every decision Apple makes is moving and will move towards this group of people because thats what Steve’s legacy put them in a position to do. I wish everyone of you a Happy New Year and may all your best wishes come true in 2012.

Thank you for reading,

Joe

Oh I forgot, there’s one more thing. One story I want to share with you. Just one I promise. I watched a program one night that was talking about autistic kids and iPad. There are apps on the iPad that allow these autistic kids to communicate with parents and others what they want and it allows a much easier route for these parents to understand what their autistic kids want. Imagine for a second what these parents think when they finally have a way to easily communicate with their kids when before it was so hard to do so. Imagine the joy they must have. Just changing one persons life for the better would have been good enough for Jobs. He just happened to change the world.

First before I get to my declaration, lets go back in time. In 1984, Steve Jobs released the Macintosh. It was completely revolutionary and 1984 wasnt 1984. It was evident that Jobs would win Person of the Year from Time. However, they made it the computer as the Machine of the Year. Steve Jobs was cheated out of his title.

Zoom up 27 years and Steve Jobs has recently passed but has provided technology that changed the world forever. Even though 2011 has come and passed with above average Apple achievement (releasing a new revolutionary product would be a extraordinary year). Apple, however did release iCloud, Lion and of course iPad 2. These are pretty significant.

Anyway, the products wouldn’t just be the reason he would win. Jobs has left his whole life’s legacy, wonderful products that we could benefit from. But not only this, he has left his philosophy which millions, through his commencement speech follow and work to change the world in their own way. He has changed the world. Time cheated him out of his deserved title, even though they had not one but several opportunities. After the iMac, iPhone and iPad were released ‘Time’ could easily have given him the title. This year after his passing, provided yet another opportunity. Steve Jobs should have won the title.

Instead it goes to… The Protestor. My first thought WTH! What in Gods name has a protestor done. They’re still protesting! They haven’t changed anything yet. Egypt is still in turmoil, better off than before, but still in deep trouble. Occupy protestors haven’t changed our corrupt politicians. But the protestor which, to be honest, hasn’t done anything gets the title while Jobs gets an obituary in the magazine. I commend the work of the protestor. Just give them the title next year if no other person deserves it. Time will not have another opportunity to give him the title. He is dead. They have no more opportunities. They made a big mistake, so it is with that, that I declare a peaceful war against Time and am hereby boycotting the magazine and I recommend any and every Apple fan boycott it as well. Time should pay for the shame it has shown Steve Jobs and Apple. Boycott Time and make them pay for this disgrace.